Assm-nob to william h



1.` F. OCONNOR.

RAILWAY DRAFT RIGGING.

APPLICATION FILED IULY 29, 1918.

NN NN WI TNESSES:

ww/ WMM J. F. OCONNOR.

RAILWAY DRAFT RIGGING.

APPLICATION FILED IuLYzs. 191sA Patented May 13,. 149191- 2 SHEETS--SHEET 2.

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" Nrrnn s'rATns PATENT OFFICE.

u noconnon, or cnrcneo, ILLINOIS, Assrenon 'ro wrttrnm n. Minen, or cnnzv,

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To all whom t may concern.'

' Be it hewn that l, JOHN F. UConnon, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of illinois, have invented a certain new and useful llmprovement in Railway Draft-Fligging, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and enact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specihcation.

' 'lhis invention relates to improvements in railway draft er gs.

The ohject of the invention is to provide a relatively inexpensive ecient friction gear for railway draft riggs, and more particularly, such a friction gear as employs torsion hars.

lin the drawing feng part of this specication, Figure 1 is a horizontal, longitudinal, sectional view of a portion of a railwayv car and illustrating my improvements. 1n connection therewith. Flg. 2 is a vertical. sectional view, taken on the line 42 2 of Fig.. 1.. Fig. B is a sectional view, tettenon the line 33 of Fig. 1. Fig. @illustrates one of thefollowers employed with my i111-A provements. Fig. 5 is a. view similar to Fig. l, lont' illustrating another embodiment of the invention. Fig. 6 ist a viewsimilar to Fig. 2, but taken on the line 6?-6 of Figo. Fig. 'l is an inner faced view of one of the followers. d Fig. 8 is a detailed, sectional view., taken on the line 8-8 of Fig.- 5.

1n said drawing and referring rst to the construction illustrated in Figs. 1 to 4;, 111-10 denote thedraft sills of the car, 11 the center bolster casting, 12 a draw bar, and 13 a yoke. Secured to the draft sills 10 and depending therefrom is a comparatively heavy casting 14, as clearly shown in Fig. 2.

lllso' secured to the. under sides of said sillsand at the rear of the bolster is a second lli ing 15, as shown in Fig.l ln carrying out my invention, Il employ preferably a pair of torsion bars 16 which arran ed parallel to or extend length wise cf t e draft sills. Said torsionbars have their inner v.ends carried by vheavy ratchet wheels 17-17, the ratchet wheels 17 having hubs axially ressed non-rota- Speclcation of Letters Patent.

L l: 'WAY DRAFT-mentre.

Fatented May 13, t..

Application tied .1T uly 29, 121e. `Serial 11o. 241221122.

tively receive the ends of the torsion bars. Said bars entend through suitable openings in the casting and the ratchet wheels 17 are located on the rear side of said casting 15. rll`he ratchets 17 are oppositely arranged and coperable therewith are suitable heavy dogs 18 pivoted to the casting 15. rlo hold the dogs 18 against accidental'displacement, ll employ a casting 19 detachably bolted to the castingl, said casting 19 having shoulders 20 which engage the dogs 18' and pre-V vent the latter from accidentally leaving the ratchet wheels. ln this manner, it is evident that the/rear or ,inner ends of the rods 16 are prevented from rotation, one in one direction and the other in the opposite direction.

lt the forward ends, the hars 16 are pro-l vided with heavy upstanding levers 21, as

clearly shown in Fig. 2. 'l`hese levers or lever arms 21 are formed at'their upper ends with oppositely arranged sets of wedge-acting faces or surfaces, as indicated at 22--22 'in Fig. 1 and with which cooperate `oorrespending wedge faces 23-23 formed on the sides of the front and rear followers 2l: d

25. 'Fhe followers 24: and 25 are normally separated a distance corresponding to the y,

permissihle movement of the draw bar, said followersbeing held against movementin one direction hyV suitable stop shoulders 26.-26 formed integrally with the casting 14. As will be apparent from an inspection of Figs. 1 and 2,the lever arms 21 are held against longitudinal movement and are .oon-

hned to a twisting or rocking movement between the shouldered portions 26 of the casting 1&1: 'llo support the rods and levers 21,

o. bottom plate 2'( is providedv which is de-v tachably bolted to the casting 14, as clearly indicated in Fig.

The operation is as follows: Upon inward movement of the draw har and the front follower 24, it is evident that the levers 21`will 'be forced apartz that is, the right hand lever as viewed 1n Fig. 2, will be twisted in a 'clockwise .direction and the other lever .21 in a counterclockwise direc-- tion. In this manner, the torsion or' twist .placed upon the herev 16 and inasmuch as the inner ends ofthe latterare held against rotation in these particular directions, the bars will act as lheavy springs in absorbing the shock. Similarly, upon outward movement of the draw bar, the rear follower 25 will force the levers 21 in opposite directions and the draft shocks thereby absorbed.

By providing 'the ratchet arrangement at the inner ends of the bars 16, as hereinbe- 'fore described, it is evident that any desired degree of preliminary torsion can be iinposed upon the bars 16 by merely rotating the ratchet wheel 17 correspondingly and for this purpose, the hubs of the ratchet wheels 17 are made square, as indicated at 28, so as to receive a claw bar or othersuitable tool for the purpose indicated.

The device can be comparatively cheaply manufactured and inasmuch as the spring elements proper are in the form of bars, the latter may be replaced or renewed at a minimum of expense.

Inlthe construction illustrated in Figs. 5 to 8, inclusive, a pair of torsion bars 116 is employed the same as in AFig. 1 and the rear ends of the bars 116are secured in the same manner, which need not here be discussed. In the forms shown in Figs. 5 tol 8, the bars 116 are located between the center sills rather than below the sills and consequently the center bolster casting 111 is suitably I apertured'as indicated at 30 to accommodate the bars 116.

Mounted within the yoke 113, which is operatively connected to the draw bar, are front and rear followers 124 and 125. Between the said followers is a transversely extending heavy block or plate 31 which is held stationary by any suitable means, `such as the two heavy transversely extending' bolts 32-32 that pass through said block 31 and through suitable perforations in the draft sills and in reinforcin plates 33-33 secured to the outer faces o the sills. The rear follower 125 is suitably apertured, as indicated at 34, to permitthe torsion bars 116 to Ipass therethrough.

Each of the followers 124 and 125 is pro- I vided on its inner side with ri ht and left series of female steep pitch spiral threads 35 and 36. Coperable with the steep pitch threads of the followers are four male members 37-37 that slide within the threads of the followers. The members 37 are arranged in pairs back to back and bea-r on the opposite facesof the block 31, and the members Y 37 are centrally recessed so as to iit'over the torsionebars 116 and rotate in unison there- `with. The block 31 is apertured, as indi- 60 cated at 38 to accommodate the bars 116 which pass therethrough. p

t In operation, u on inward movement of the draw-bar the ont follower 124 will be forced rearwardly and consequently the cooperating members 37will be rotated, the

right hand one in a clockwise direction and the left hand one in a counterclockwise direction, las viewed in Fig. 6. Similarly, upon forward movement of the draw bar, the rear follower 125- will move forwardly and cause |a corresponding rotation of the rear set of members 37 with consequent twisting or torsion of the bars 116. By employing right and left sets of threaded followers and members 37, tendency of the followers to be themselves twisted is neutralized.

I claim:

1. In a railwa draft rigging, the combination with dra t sills, draw bar and yokeacting means, of torsion rods arranged parallel to the sills and prevented against rotation at points therein, followers, and means between said followers and said rods for translating longitudinal movement of said followers to a twisting movement of said rods.

2. In -a draft rigging for railway cars,l the combination with draft sills, draw bar, yoke-acting means and followers, of torsion bars extending lengthwise of the sills, means for holding the rear ends of said bars against rotation, and means interposed between said followersand the free ends of said bars for twisting the latter upon either linward or outward movement of-the draw 3. In a railway draft rigging, the combination with draft sills, draw bar, yoke-acting means yand followers, of longitudinally extending torsion bars, means for adjustably holding the rear ends of said bars against rotation, and means `interposed between said followers and the forward ends of 'saidbars for translating linear movement of said followers into a twisting movement of said bars.

4. In a railway draft rigging, the combination with draft sills, draw bar and yokeacting means, of a plurality of torsion bars extending lengthwise of the sills and disposed therebetween, means for holding said bars against rotation at their inner ends, followers, members non-rotatably mounted on said torsion bars at their forward ends, and means for' rotating said members upon rela- 115 tive approach of the followers.

5. In a railwa draftrigging, the combination with dra t sills, draw bar, yoke-acting means, and followers, of a pair of torsion bars extending lengthwise of. the sills, 120 means for holding the rear ends of said bars again/st rotation, one bar in one direction, and the other bar inthe opposite direction, and means interposed between said followers and the forward ends of said bars for im- 125 prting opposed twisting movements to said l rs upon relative approach of said followers.

6. In a railway draft rigging, the combination with draft sills, draw bar and yoke- 130 acting means, of a plurality of straight tor- `In witness that I claim the foregoing sion bars, means for translating linear nuova have hereunto subscribed my name this 26th ment of the draw bar to twisting movements day of J uly, 1918.

of said rods and always in the same diree- JOHN F. OCONNOR. tions upon either bu lor draft action, and Witnesses: l

means for adjusting 4the initial tension of WM. H. HAIGHT,

said rods. META SGHMIDT. 

